Apparatus for sponging the rims of unfired ceramic hollow-ware

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for sponging the rims of articles of unfired ceramic hollow-ware includes a rotatable disc member having a band of sponge material detachably mounted round its perimeter and depending from it as a skirt whose lower edge is formed with a pattern of alternate peaks and valleys, and a moving conveyor is arranged at a lower level than the sponge band so that during a portion of its travel its path coincides with the sponge band, the conveyor having upstanding from it at intervals a plurality of spigots on each of which a work-holder is rotatably fitted, each work-holder having associated with it a driving wheel and containing a loose interchangeable liner, drive means being provided for the disc member and the conveyor together with a moving band which acts to impart rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while it is in a position for the article it contains to be acted upon by the sponge band, means being also provided for moistening the sponge band and for squeezing out excess moisture and clay fragments from it.

United States Patent 1191 Wedgwood 1 APPARATUS FOR SPONGING THE RIMS OF UNFIRED CERAMIC HOLLOW-WARE [75] Inventor: Sidney Wedgwood, Newcastle-under-Lyme, England [73] Assigneez, Staffordshire Ceramic Systems Limited, Under-Lyme, England 22 Filed: Jan. 30, 1973 21 Appl.No.:327,974

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data [56] I References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,224,653 12/1940 Lane et a1 425/263 X 2,374,339 4/1945 Emerson 425/267 X 3,040,409 6/1962 Elliott 425/268 X 3,245,130 4/1966 Dowley et al 425/459 1451 July 16, 1974 Primary ExaminerJ. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-David B. Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm- Alan H. Levine;.Breitenfeld & Levine [57] ABSTRACT at a lower level than the sponge band so that during a portion of its travel its path coincides with the sponge band, the conveyor having upstanding from it at intervals a plurality of spigots on each of which a workholder is rotatably fitted, each work-holder having associated with it a driving wheel and containing a loose interchangeable liner, drive means being provided for the disc member and the conveyor together with a moving band which acts to impart rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while it is in a position for the article it contains to be acted upon by the sponge band, means being also provided for moistening the sponge band and for squeezing out excess moisture and clay fragments from it.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED JUL 1 81974 SHEEJ 2 OF 2 APPARATUS FOR SPONGING THE RIMS OF UNFIRED CERAMIC HOLLOW-WARE This invention relates to the manufacture of ceramic articles and more particularly to the sponging of the rims of such articles while they are in the unfired clay state.

By this sponging operation any imperfections left in the rims of the articles after the shaping operation are removed and the rims are finished to a satisfactorily smooth rounded contour. The sponging operation was formerly performed by hand, but more recently machines have been designed in an endeavour to carry out the sponging operation more rapidly and without having to rely on the skill of operatives to ensure satisfactory results.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved sponging machine particularly for producing excellent top rims upon hollow-ware articles such as cups, beakers, mugs and the like andwhich will be capable of dealing successfully and expeditiously with various types of ware from thin delicate china or porcelain to thick hotel-ware.

The invention consists in an apparatus having a rotatable disc member having a band of spongy material mounted round its perimeter, and a moving conveyor is arranged at a lower level than the sponge band and arranged so that at least a portion of its path of travel coincides with that of the sponge band, the conveyor carrying a succession of upstanding work-holders in a freely rotatable manner, the work-holders being'positioned so that clay-ware articles carried by the respective work-holders will have their upper rims acted upon by the underside of the sponge band during that part of their travel where the paths of the band and the conveyor coincide.

In a preferred embodiment the apparatus comprises a frame, a disc mounted in the frame for rotation about a vertical axis, a band of sponging material attached round the perimeter of the disc and depending therev from, an endless conveyor mounted in the frame at a lower level than the disc, driving means operatively associated with the disc and the conveyor, a plurality of work-holders supported by and upstanding from the conveyor at intervals along it, the conveyor being positioned so as to bring the work-holders successively through a sponging station in which their path coincides with the sponging band, whereby articles supported in the work-holders will have their upper rims acted upon by the band, and means for imparting rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while the articles are being thus acted upon.

A constructional form of the invention will now be ing an electric motor 12 having an output shaft 14 carrying a pulley 16 from which a belt 18 drives a pulley 20 and shaft 22 which is the input shaft to a reduction gear mechanism -24. The shaft 22 also carries another pulley 26 from which a drive is taken over diverting pulleys 28 by a belt 30 to a series of pulleys 32 each fonning part of one of a series of work-holders to be described. From the reduction gear mechanism 24 an output shaft 34 drives a sprocket 36 which, by means of a chain 38, drives another sprocket 40 mounted on a shaft 42 which extends upwards and has fixed upon it a disc 44 which has a band 46 of sponge material (natural or artificial) detachably attached round its perimeter. The band 46 may be attached to the disc by means of strips of the interlocking fabric material known as VELCRO whose surface presents a multiplicity of inter-engaging hook-like formations so that while the band 46 is firmly attached. round the disc it can nevertheless be easily peeled off when required. The underside of the band 46 is formed with a pattern of alternate peaks and valleys extending across it as indicated at 46, the band depending below the disc 44 to form a skirt which is very flexible.

An endless conveyor 50 in the form of a chain is mounted on sprockets 52, 54 at a lower level than the band 46, the sprocket 52 being in register with the disc 44 so that in a sponging station where the conveyor passes round the sprocket 52, its path coincides with the path of the sponge band 46 above it. The sprocket 54 rotates rounda fixed axle 56. The sprocket 52 is mounted on a boss fitted freely round the shaft 42 and the boss has fixed on it a sprocket 62 which is driven by a chain 64 from a sprocket 66 fixed on a lay shaft 68, the shaft 68 also having fixed on it at a lower level a further sprocket 70 which is driven by the chain 38 operated from the reduction gear 24. The chain 38 passes also round a jockey sprocket 72 by which the tension of the chain can be adjusted.

Work-holders are attached to each of the pulleys 32 and carried at equally spaced intervals along the endless conveyor chain 50 each work-holder and pulley unit fitting in a freely rotatable manner on a spigot pin extending upwards from the chain links. Each workholder is in the form of a cup-like member having a loose flexible lining 81 of sponge material, and is adapted to receive clay-ware cups 82 which will project upwards above the level of the tops of the work-holders so that the upperrims of the cups are exposed and are susceptibletothe sponging action of the band 46 carried by the rotating disc 44. The level of the disc 44 and hence of the band 46 can be adjusted by means of a screwed adjuster 84 fitted to the shaft 42 above the disc. The band 46 is moistened by means of one or more water jets 86 usually fed from mains; surplus water together with adhering fragments of clay are removed from the band by a pair of squeegee rollers 88, 90 bearing respectively against the outer surface of the 'band and against that part of the inner surface or skirt ter to be quickly adapted to different shapes or sizes of article. v

The conveyor may extend to different parts of a workshop or the like to receive articles and carry them to the sponging station. The apparatus may be arranged to sponge more than one size or shape of article by fitting more than onetype of loose liner in the workholders, and the latter may be colour-coded for identifying the different types.

I claim: e

1. A sponging apparatus for acting upon the rims of articles of unfired ceramic hollow-ware comrising a frame, a disc mounted in the frame for rotation about a vertical axis, a band of sponging material attached round the perimeter of the disc and extending downwards as a skirt below the level of the disc, the band having a downwardly-facing lower edge spaced below thedisc, an endless conveyor mounted in the frame at a lower level than the disc, driving means operatively associated with the disc and the conveyor, a plurality of work-holders supported by and upstanding from the conveyor at intervals along it, the conveyor being positioned so as to bring the'work-holders successively through a sponging station in which their path coincides with the sponging band, the vertical spacing between the band and work-holdersbeing such that the downwardly-facing lower edge of the band acts upon the upper rims of articles supported in the workholders, and means for imparting rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while the articles are being thus acted upon.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the direction of rotation of the discwhich carries the sponging band is opposite from the direction of rotation of the individual work-holders.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the sponging band i's attached to the perimeter of the disc frame, a disc mounted in the frame for rotation about a vertical axis, a band of sponging material attached round the perimeter of the disc and extending downwards as a skirt below the level of the disc, the lower surface of the skirt being formed with a profile of alternate peaks and valleys, an endless conveyor mounted in the frame at a lower level than the disc, driving means operatively associated with the disc and the conveyor, a plurality of work-holders supported by and upstanding from the conveyor at intervals along it, the

conveyor being positioned so as to bring the workted freely on to the spigots, and each work-holder having associated with it a drive wheel, the drive wheels being rotated by a moving band during the travel of the work-holders throughvthe sponging station.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which each work-holder includes a loose and interchangeable flexible lining to enable the work-holders to accommodate different shapes and sizes of article.

. I al 

1. A sponging apparatus for acting upon the rims of articles of unfired ceramic hollow-ware comrising a frame, a disc mounted in the frame for rotation about a vertical axis, a band of sponging material attached round the perimeter of the disc and extending downwards as a skirt below the level of the disc, the band having a downwardly-facing lower edge spaced below the disc, an endless conveyor mounted in the frame at a lower level than the disc, driving means operatively associated with the disc and the conveyor, a plurality of work-holders supported by and upstanding from the conveyor at intervals along it, the conveyor being positioned so as to bring the work-holders successively through a sponging station in which their path coincides with the sponging band, the vertical spacing between the band and work-holders being such that the downwardly-facing lower edge of the band acts upon the upper rims of articles supported in the work-holders, and means for imparting rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while the articles are being thus acted upon.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the direction of rotation of the disc which carries the sponging band is opposite from the direction of rotation of the individual work-holders.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the sponging band is attached to the perimeter of the disc in a readily detachable manner.
 4. A sponging apparatus for acting upon the rims of articles of unfired ceramic hollow-ware comprising a frame, a disc mounted in the frame for rotation about a vertical axis, a band of sponging material attached round the perimeter of the disc and extending downwards as a skirt below the level of the disc, the lower surface of the skirt being formed with a profile of alternate peaks and valleys, an endless conveyor mounted in the frame at a lower level than the disc, driving means operatively associated with the disc and the conveyor, a plurality of work-holders supported by and upstanding from the conveyor at intervals along it, the conveyor being positioned so as to bring the work-holders successively through a sponging station in which their path coincides with the sponging band, whereby articles supported in the work-holders will have their upper rims acted upon by the band, and means for imparting rotation to each work-holder about its own vertical axis while the articles are being thus acted upon.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the conveyor is a chain-type conveyor having a plurality of spigots upstanding from it, the work-holders being fitted freely on to the spigots, and each work-holder having associated with it a drive wheel, the drive wheels being rotated by a moving band during the travel of the work-holders through the sponging station.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which each work-holder includes a loose and interchangeable flexible lining to enable the work-holders to accommodate different shapes and sizes of article. 